Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Homework and potty training

So did you know there is homework in kindergarten? Not that there shouldn't be...Natalie only goes to school half day, so it makes sense to do more work in the afternoon. Every day, there's a homework page in her backpack. The challenge for me is to remember to have her work on it after she gets up from her nap, and before I start working on dinner...with three other kids also wanting my attention. I really have to sit with Natalie and encourage her to write the letters and numbers that the teacher wants her to write (you can imagine what I have to do to get her to write...yes, I do!) Obviously practice is the best way for her to learn...but I have to be involved.

And the big news of the day....drumroll...Natalie finally used the toilet at school! Yesterday the teacher finally understood me when I told her that Natalie does use the toilet at home (I've told her this at least five times already)...then I realized I'd never looked at the toilet at school. I'd assumed it would be a small, child-sized toilet. Guess what! The toilet in the kindergarten room is an adult, elongated toilet with the gap in the seat at the front: regular, standard-issue, commercial toilet seat. The toilet is a little lower than normal, but the seat is huge!

Today I brought a potty seat for Natalie to use, and today she eliminated in the toilet. Duh!

Go here to read the first posting of the blog (explains the name of our blog). Click on the pictures in any post to make them bigger. And please share your thoughts!

Lukas likes rock climbing, steak and salad, science, reading Narnia, Lego Mindstorm, playing with pipes, sprinklers and water, and helping his Dad with home projects.

Natalie likes PASTA, quesadillas, ice cream and blueberries, reading, playing with princess dolls, playing with train tracks, saying "hi" to her friends and singing any song you want to teach her.

Konrad likes pizza, green salsa from Trader Joes, Legos, Spiderman, trains, reading, and is eager to do anything Lukas is doing.Dominik likes pasta, apples and pears, riding his trike, trains, playing with his brothers and sister and is running everywhere!